Intellectual Property Rights Protection

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2016 In Review

We wish all our clients and users a happy new year! In order to move to a prosperous future, let’s first take a quick review of the past. Here is 2016 in review:

Notable US Events:
January 26 – After occupying a federal wildlife refuge headquarters in Oregon for 26 days to denounce federal land policies, protest leader Ammon Bundy and several fellow occupiers are pulled over on US Highway 395. Bundy is arrested, and LaVoy Finicum is killed.

February 20 – Six people are killed, and two more are injured during an hours-long shooting rampage at three different sites in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The shooting suspect is identified as Jason Brian Dalton, 45, an Uber driver who apparently picked up and dropped off passengers between shootings.

March 8 – Four people are killed in Kansas City and a fifth is gunned down in Missouri. The shooting suspect, Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino had been deported to Mexico in 2004 but returned to the US illegally. Serrano-Vitorino is also charged with the murder of a Missouri man after his truck was found at the victim’s home.

April 25 – Five hundred and fourteen residents and former residents of Flint, Michigan, file a class action lawsuit against the EPA. The plaintiffs allege negligence and demand more than $220 million in damages for the EPA’s role in the Flint water crisis.

May 23 – The Supreme Court rules 7-1 in favor of African-American death row inmate Timothy Foster, in a case concerning race discrimination in jury selection. Twenty years after Foster’s sentence, his attorneys obtained notes taken by the prosecution during jury selection, including marking potential jurors’ names with a “b” for black. The decision does not vacate Foster’s conviction; it opens the door for Foster’s case to be remanded to the Georgia state court to argue for a new trial.

May 26 – Jairam Hathwar, 13, of Corning, New York, and Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, are named co-champions of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee competition, the third set of co-champions in three years.

June 28 – After a two-year investigation of the Benghazi terror attack, House Republicans release a more than 800-page report faulting the Obama administration for security lapses which led to the deaths of four Americans, but contains no revelations likely to further damage Hillary Clinton. The report paints a picture of bureaucratic inertia, rapidly worsening security in Libya and inadequate resources in the months preceding the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three colleagues on September 11, 2012.

July 26 –Hillary Clinton officially becomes the Democratic Party nominee for president and the first woman in the history of the United States to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party.

July 27 – Baltimore prosecutors drop charges against the three remaining officers awaiting trial in connection with Freddie Gray’s death. The other three officers charged in the case have already been acquitted.

August 10 – The Justice Department releases a report showing that the Baltimore Police Department has engaged in unconstitutional practices that led to disproportionate rates of stops, searches and arrests of African-Americans, and excessive use of force against juveniles and people with mental health disabilities.

August 12 – Alex Rodriguez plays in his final MLB game at Yankee Stadium as the New York Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays.

September 28 – A 14-year-old male opens fire on the playground of Townville Elementary School southwest of Greenville, South Carolina. Two children and a teacher are wounded. Jacob Hall, one of the wounded children, dies three days later. Authorities believe before going to the school, the teen shot and killed his father. He is taken into custody.

October 7-8 – Hurricane Matthew hits Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, leading to record-breaking flooding and millions of power outages. At least 45 US deaths are blamed on the storm. Before hitting the United States, Hurricane Matthew tore through Haiti on October 4, killing more than 500 people.

November 4 – Two former officials linked to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s office are found guilty on all charges in connection with the closure of lanes in 2013 on the George Washington Bridge in an apparent act of political retribution, the fallout for which has come to be known as Bridgegate. Bridget Anne Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, both faced seven counts of various charges including conspiracy, fraud, and civil rights deprivation.

November 6 – Based on a review of the newly discovered emails, James Comey tells lawmakers that the agency has not changed its opinion that Clinton should not face criminal charges.

December 5 – The judge declares a mistrial on the fourth day of deliberations in the murder trial of Michael Slager, a former police officer charged with killing an unarmed black motorist in North Charleston, South Carolina.

December 15 –A jury finds Dylann Roof guilty of all 33 federal charges he faced after last year’s massacre at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. In the next phase of the trial, scheduled to begin in January, jurors will weigh whether Roof, 22, should be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.

January 16 –Iran releases four US prisoners including Saeed Abedini, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati and Jason Rezaian, in exchange for clemency for seven Iranians imprisoned in the United States for sanctions violations.

February 1 – The World Health Organization declares Zika a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) due to the increase of neurological disorders, such as microcephaly, in areas of French Polynesia and Brazil.

March 21 – The ICC declares former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba guilty on two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes for failing to keep his forces from raping and killing civilians in Central African Republic in 2002-2003. In June, Bemba is sentenced to 18 years in prison.

April 3 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists publishes a massive leak of documents, dubbed the “Panama Papers.” The more-than 11 million documents, which date back four decades, are allegedly connected to Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca. ICIJ reports the firm helped establish secret shell companies and offshore accounts for global power players.

July 6 – A South African judge sentences athlete Oscar Pistorius to six years in prison for his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp’s murder. Barring an appeal, this will be the final sentencing.

July 6 – A Barcelona, Spain, court sentences soccer star Lionel Messi to 21 months in prison for tax fraud. However, because this is the first time Messi has committed an offense, he will not serve jail time.

July 13 –Theresa May becomes the second ever female prime minister of Great Britain when David Cameron resigns after the UK votes to leave the European Union.

September 20 – A Brazilian judge rules that there is enough evidence for former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his wife and six others to stand trial on corruption charges, relating to the state-run oil company Petrobus.

October 4 –Hurricane Matthew makes landfall in Haiti, tearing through the small Caribbean nation with 125 mph winds and heavy rains that flood villages, raze crops, sweep away cattle and cut off parts of the island. The official death toll is more than 500, according to Haiti’s Civil Protection Service. Four people are also reported dead in the Dominican Republic.

October 13 – Boko Haram militants hand over 21 Chibok schoolgirls to authorities after a series of negotiations with the Nigerian government. It’s the first mass release of any of the more than 200 girls and women kidnapped from their school in April 2014. As many as 57 girls escaped almost immediately in 2014 and one was found in May 2016.

December 10 – Forty-four people, mostly police officers, are killed and 155 wounded in twin bombings in Istanbul. The explosions, one large blast followed by a smaller one, occurred after a heavily attended soccer game at Besiktas Vodafone Arena.